One hour earlier…
Sherry stood on the portal altar of Kordas, with a portal to Rene closing behind her. As she looked back through it, she caught one final glimpse of Yorgi waving her off. Once the portal had closed, she looked around at the quiet, peaceful city nearby for a moment before opening up her guild communications interface.
There, quite a few members were discussing a message Yorgi had sent.
[Yorgi]: Hae-won claims that Aegis h...
2023-06-08 09:56:14 +0000 UTC
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The air between Aegis and Emerill filled with tension as they glared at each other unmoving. The sounds of birds chirping, and various other animals mooing and clucking could be heard coming from the nearby farms of Orm. Players and NPCs were not present, though, instead only the faint ringing of an alarm bell warning the NPCs to hide in their homes due to the incoming invasion. The mist had not yet reached the Orm, however.
Emerill made the first move by ceasing his pointless dagger tw...
2023-06-07 10:00:07 +0000 UTC
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“Coming at you live from Kordas in Kalmoore, I’m Samathara of the S-News gaming network. We’ve recently received word that the invasion of Kalmoore is beginning, and we have confirmation that it is case. Our investigative reporters are claiming to have sighted the abysslings and the black mist swarming up the sides of the island as we speak.” Samathara stood atop the Skyport of Kordas, motioning to the surrounding city. Beside her stood several other streaming reporters.
“So f...
2023-06-06 10:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Eli sat down in his Simbox and laid his head back on the cushioned headrest. He looked down at his Sim-suit and carefully placed the foot socket into the plug to hook it up and activate the lights on his suit. Once it was all ready, he took a deep nervous breath and stared blankly up at the top of the Simbox.
He remained sitting like this, calming his nerves with deep breathing for a full five minutes. Eventually, though, he nodded to himself and reached up to grab the top of the Simbox...
2023-06-05 10:00:08 +0000 UTC
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“So, how much do you wanna bet?” Hae-won asked Shinji as the two sat in the cafeteria room of the Fanta-see network building. An intern was scurrying about using the machines on the counters to make them coffee and lunch.
“Bet on what?” Shinji asked with a lack of interest as he looked down at his bowl of ramen, slurping some up noodles with his chopsticks carefully so as to not splash the soup onto his dress shirt.
“Bet that Aegis turns his stream back on, and he’s fo...
2023-06-02 10:00:07 +0000 UTC
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“You know…” Emerill leaned back in a red cushioned chair, set in the midsts of a large, eloquently furnished brothel floor. The chair was positioned in a circle around a large iron pole that was bolted in place from the floor to ceiling. It was one of many circles of chairs that had been arranged around poles within the establishment.
Dancing on the pole was a female elven player of level 26, wearing nothing but laced black underwear as she moved provocatively closer and closer to...
2023-06-01 10:00:09 +0000 UTC
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“This version might do it…” Aegis mumbled to himself as he scurried around the Night Hunter’s crafting chamber. He continuously moved between the stonecutting, smelting, tailoring, and leatherworking stations as he did, giving odd orders to Tullan, Yuki and Savika along the way. All the while, Yorgi stood idly by and watched curiously, sure to maintain his newly learned divination shell that was covering the room and preventing anything inside from being scryed on.
“It’d be ...
2023-05-31 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“How long have I been asleep?” Ysil’mareina asked, directing her words to Ysil’atrilios while everyone else became speechless at the sight of the dragon’s jaws opening and shutting with each word. The giant silver scaled beast in front of them was speaking in english, in a soft clear voice, despite its size.
“Several centuries. But not much has changed in regards to the state of the world. It remains shattered, with the darkness of the abyss dominating the surface.” Ysil...
2023-05-30 10:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Author note: Previous mentions of Aegis' advance class quest had more steps, and higher difficulty, but I've since lowered them and they'll remain lowered from this point onward.
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“Oh god. I thought airships were bad, this is way worse.” Artaphernes’ stomach gurgled violently as he desperately clasped his arms around Aegis while Snowflak...
2023-05-29 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Aegis stood alongside Tullan atop the Kordas Skyport with Lina, Pyri, Darkshot, Rakkan, and Snowflake standing behind him. It was mid-afternoon, a few hours after the meeting had taken place. A light breeze blew through the air that billowed their cloaks as they looked down across the city below them.
Towards the western gate they watched two long lines of players on the backs of various beasts, marching out of the city. What they were watching exactly was the bulk of both the Night Hun...
2023-05-27 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Aegis sat in a chair at a large, round, dark brown wooden table with thin swirling vines engraved into a border that went around the edge of the table. Standing tall behind him stood Chax on one side, and Lina on the other. A meter away on either side of him sat other players, leaders of guilds that Aegis didn’t recognize. This continued every meter, all the way around the table. Each guild leader had two of its members standing behind them.
He recognized Artaphernes in his chair acro...
2023-05-26 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“Yeah, as I figured… there it is.” Herilon sighed anxiously amongst the other members of his and Artaphernes’ guild as they continued waiting around the portal altar of Kordas.
“Where the hell did he get an enchanted, mastercraft mithral weapon?” Artaphernes replied nervously.
“Most likely, scavenged from the fallen islands. He said found it, not crafted.” Quinn took a deep breath. “Pyri?”
“15 seconds.” She prepared her staff to cast the portal spell....
2023-05-25 10:00:10 +0000 UTC
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“What the hell was that?” Quinn shouted as she pushed her way through the crowds of other players to get to Baffo, Sapphire and Cheryl as they stood back up from being knocked down through the portal.
“That battlemaster hit us with some weird shockwave attack.” Sapphire grumbled back in annoyance as she dusted herself off.
“Sorry, it’s because I fell…” Cheryl apologized to everyone while keeping her head turned down.
“Sorry? You mighta just lost us any chan...
2023-05-24 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“It’s high level, and giants are known for having very high health, but…” Baffo shouted out to Aegis’ party as they stood behind him, unloading their strongest attacks onto the giant as it stomped towards them, wading through the magma river. Lina had gone from throwing shadow daggers to utilizing shadows cast by the giant’s body onto its own back from the glow of the magma river to shadow step ontop of it, and was viciously slashing him with her daggers. “It won’t live foreve...
2023-05-23 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Artaphernes stood on the frontlines alongside Herilon and several other melee class players. In his right hand he held his spear, twirling the sturdy shaft around in his fingers before solidly gripping it in his fist, the spearhead pointed forward towards the Blacklion guild members. The moment he gripped it, the head of the spear began to emit a deep orange glow that hardly contrasted with the glow of the nearby magma river.
“Let’s get this started, shall we? My guys, focus the bac...
2023-05-22 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Tommy and Hae-won stood side by side in the Fanta-see Network studio's main office room. Several interns had been hired and were now scurrying about the office around them as the two looked at a large flat screen hanging on the far wall of the room. Tommy had a coffee in his hand wearing his standard respectable gray business suit, while Hae-won was munching on chips out of a small rattling bag in her sweatpants and baggy shirt, hair looking as if it hadn’t been washed in weeks.
On th...
2023-05-19 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Aegis led his party through the glowing moss and mushrooms of Reltrak forest. Snowflake walked beside him, with Rakkan and Lina at his back, then Pyri and Darkshot with Darkwing on his shoulder further back still. The group were each sitting at level 138, up from 135 thanks to the massive experience given by the beholder raid boss.
“You really think all that stuff is true?” Darkshot asked as the group neared the pillar of stones marking the entrance to the red river.
“It exp...
2023-05-18 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Aegis and Chax made the rounds through the streets of Rene, with the goal of ensuring that every single NPC within the walls of the town were hit by his aura of light at least once. Thanks to him having trained the skill back in the Mosmir hive, the radius was quite large, resulting in Aegis finishing the task quickly.
“Notice anything that might’ve been causing it?” Aegis asked Chax as the two walked side by side back towards the townsquare.
“No, nothing…” Chax replie...
2023-05-17 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Aegis walked through the townsquare of Rene on his own, taking in the sight of the many players haggling with each other over trading goods. There were several market stalls set up by other players selling their crafts, but also many NPCs.
Gathered around his fountain he heard shouts of players looking to trade, or recruit party members for quests and dungeons, and even some people advertising their streams and encouraging people to watch them play. It was incredibly lively, and the neg...
2023-05-16 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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“Hm.” Tullan grunted as he began to stroke his beard, pondering on Aegis’ words. The two were standing near the edge of the upper palace platform, looking down over the city of the white tree below. Some distance away, talking amongst themselves, were Aegis’ party and the rest of the Night Hunters. “That clue doesn’t help us find it, does it?”
“It might, we could just not be looking at it from the right angle.” Aegis nodded back, scratching his chin while equally deep ...
2023-05-15 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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“Where exactly are you taking me?” Aegis asked Kaef’aktos as he followed behind him. They’d initially been traveling through the elegantly bright halls of the palace, illuminated by the natural interior wood of the White Tree. But as they continued on, the halls went deeper into the core of the tree, became more narrow, and as a result, the glow of the walls began to dull to that of a dark gray. It was still easy to see due to the lighting, but it was much more gloomy and ominous.
...
2023-05-13 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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“So… you doing alright?” Quinn asked Aegis as the two walked side by side into the main hall of the Palace, Viella leading them by walking a few meters ahead.
“Huh? Yeah… just… sucks.” Aegis shrugged.
“Was teasing about the portal, by the way. I watched the fight. Most raid bosses scale themselves up based on how many enemies engage them, and those eye attacks looked hard enough to coordinate without having a ton of players bumping into each other. Probably would...
2023-05-12 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Hae-won, like Aegis, had a blank expression on her face as she stared in disbelief at Aegis’ broadcast. The broadcast itself on the screen behind her showed Aegis sitting on his knees on the platform in front of the inner sanctum, staring blankly at the item orbs of purple and blue quality rolling around in front of him.
“Hae-won? You gotta say something.” Tommy said to her through a voice call that connected their Simboxes. She could hear him clearly, but Aegis’ audience of 300...
2023-05-11 10:00:03 +0000 UTC
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“Viewership is still climbing…” Shinji mumbled nervously from inside his editor simulation. He had screens containing multiple points of view around Aegis as he stood between the door of the inner sanctum and the void beholder as it began to emit its red enraged aura.
“Of course it is, it’s the first time anyone’s seen a beholder in the Shattered World Online. Not to mention, no one has ever cleared an Extreme III quest before. I’m having trouble striking down the other ne...
2023-05-10 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Before the smoke had finished clearing, the boss turned its hovering body away from Aegis and towards the large glowing white door that was carved into the tree behind it. A small tendril extended out of the base of its spherical form holding the pendant-key that had been snatched from Kur’aktos’ neck.
“Lina,” Aegis motioned towards it as he dashed forward with his shield out. “I’ll head it off, Seliolara, heal me, Pyri, probe for damage vulnerabilities, everyone else just h...
2023-05-09 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Lina quickly shadowstepped back outside of Kagil’aktos’ office and across the tavern floor until she was standing back beside Viella.
“It’s done, we can get out of here.” Lina said to Viella as she continued to hold her hands in front of her body, emitting an aura of shadows that wrapped around her fingertips as she maintained the shadow trap spell on the bound seekers.
“Not yet.” Viella replied with a strained voice.
“What do you mean? They are going to need...
2023-05-08 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Lina took the lead, using her shadow step spell to find suitable shadows cast by the buildings of the Royal Ring. Initiailly, she moved slowly in fear that Viella wouldn’t be able to keep up though.
“Come on, go faster.” Viella urged her after a few jumps, prompting Lina to speed up. As she shrank the intervals in between her jumps, she was repeatedly glancing back to make sure Viella was still able to follow, and to her surprise, she was. This continued until Lina was jumping at ...
2023-05-06 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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“This is going to get out of hand really fast!” Pyri shouted to Darkshot as she continuously jumped backwards and recast cinderbolts to protect herself. She was able to deflect the strikes of several seekers using the balls of cinders for a few moments at a time before the black hole spell of Mayiera would suck them in.
Seeing her still being effective, though, Mayiera opted to start marching closer to Pyri so that her spells would get absorbed instantaneously.
“I can hold t...
2023-05-05 10:00:05 +0000 UTC
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“Shit!” Aegis shouted as he shot up from his chair, realizing what had just happened just as Kur’aktos suddenly let out a violent cough and stumbled up onto his feet. Almost immediately, Aegis saw red damage numbers popping up above his head. The moment they’d appeared, everyone else in the room reacted as well by standing up from their chairs.
“My lord?” Krael asked with concern.
“The poison. The seeker poison. No matter, I was anticipating something like this, due ...
2023-05-04 10:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Aegis, Lina, Pyri, Darkshot, and Mayiera all stood a few meters out from one of the many large gates leading into The City of the White Tree. There was a wide, sturdy obsidian bridge in front of them built overtop of the slow flowing moat of magma that surrounded the city, and it was covered with armed White Tree guards who all glared apprehensively at the five of them.
They were not wearing Seeker’s cloaks, but instead their regular adventuring gear, with the exception of Aegis who w...
2023-05-03 10:00:06 +0000 UTC
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